The employment of inertia type flywheels in many types of toys has existed for a number of years. The flywheel is energized with kinetic energy by manually pushing the toy along a surface to accelerate the rotation of the flywheel and then, upon releasing the toy upon said surface, the energy of the flywheel drives the toy until the energy is expended or until the toy meets an obstruction. For purposes of accommodating this type of motive power to certain types of toys, various arrangements of gear train, as well as different types of means to energize the flywheel, have been employed and particular examples thereof comprise the subject matter of certain patents, as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,625,771 to Herrick, dated Jan. 20, 1953, shows a figure toy which is motorized by means of a flywheel and simple gear train that drives a pair of wheels on a common axle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,650,067 to Greenwood, dated Mar. 21, 1972, shows a toy automobile in which the flywheel is mounted for rotation about a vertical axis to drive the rear axle which is horizontal and the equivalent of bevel gears are employed to translate the rotation of the vertical axis of the flywheel to the horizontal axis of the rear wheels of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,129 to Lemelson, dated Oct. 17, 1972, shows a toy automobile in which the flywheel is mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis and an auxiliary rack is employed to initially rotate the flywheel to store kinetic energy and a clutch is subsequently operated to connect the rotating flywheel to a pair of bevel members, one of which is on at least one of the wheels to drive the same.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,429 to Holden, dated May 11, 1976, shows a toy comprising a figure which may be associated, for example, with a toy locomotive, and simulating an engineer, the figure toy being driven by a flywheel operable about a horizontal axis and a pair of gear trains are actuated thereby respectively to drive individual drivewheels supporting the toy figure in one embodiment of the invention, and in a second embodiment, the front wheels on an axle of a toy vehicle are driven by a similar flywheel and gear train.
It also is well-known that many types of toys, including toy automobiles, trains, and the like, have been provided with electric lighting which is energized either by the current derived from a conventional transformer employed in regard to electric toy locomotives, or by batteries carried by the toy vehicles. As far as is known by the present inventor, however, the kinetic energy of a flywheel has not previously been employed in toys for purposes of driving an electric generating device to generate current in situ by the toy to operate auxiliary electric devices, such as sound-producing means, electric light bulbs, or otherwise.